How you can support someone living with dementia In 2017 the New York Times ran three articles on Alzheimer’s and dementia. The central piece, “Fraying at the Edges: Her Fight to Live with Alzheimer’s” is a lengthy word and video essay about a woman’s experiences in being diagnosed with MCI and then Alzheimer’s, and beginning … Read more
Dementia came into my life as it does for many of us—when someone we love gets it. For me, it was a neighbor who had Alzheimer’s and was becoming too forgetful to manage entirely on her own. Her children lived elsewhere and would have to move her into a care facility unless they could find … Read more
How to help someone with dementia retain their sense of self A very important way to help our loved ones with dementia retain their sense of self is to give them opportunities to be kind and helpful. There is nothing more uplifting and effective at helping us feel better about ourselves than being able to … Read more
How to deal with a mean dementia ‘patient’* Why is my mom so angry? Why does my husband blow up when I try to explain something?” Why does it feel like having dementia and being mean to family often go hand in hand? There is an answer—a way to avoid the anger that so often … Read more
People experiencing dementia are losing the ability to use recall, which, when combined with rational thought loss, makes decision-making increasingly difficult. To make a choice, we must first bring to mind the available options. Next, we grade the options for such things as preference, availability, maybe easiness or cost—all while still retaining each possibility in … Read more
This is ME Talking — Not My Dementia! We know that language skills are eventually lost in dementia. But do we really understand what dementia and language loss mean? Let’s be careful that we understand that ability is lost but the desire and need to communicate remains. Here at DAWN, we are person-directed in our … Read more